Home › Glossary › Letter M

Massive comparison

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A metaphor or simile involving subjects of extraordinary size or significance

Detailed Definition
A massive comparison is an extended or hyperbolic simile or metaphor that equates a subject with something of vast scale—cosmic, geological, or mythic—to convey overwhelming magnitude; it functions rhetorically to dwarf the ordinary and evoke sublime or existential perspective.
Example
Example in poetry:
Titanic simile like “mountain-striding warrior”; Colossal storm compared to giants; Whitman comparing men to mountains; Homer likening Ajax to tower.
Additional Notes
Massive comparison is an oversized or exaggerated simile/metaphor, used for epic scale or hyperbolic effect.
Also Known As
Gigantic comparison Enormous metaphor Vast simile Colossal figure Cyclopean metaphor
Skip to main content